Farewell to Meghan Markle’s Instagram, Gone but Not Forgotten

Oh, dear. Oh, my. Oh, my dear, dear, dear. Meghan Markle’s Instagram is gone. Where the former Suits actress (and current fiancée to Prince Harry) once kept the inspirational bread crumbs from her life now rests a cold apology: “Sorry, this page isn’t available.” Over on Twitter? Void. Nil. Nothing. All of it gone before it really lived.

This day was written in the stars above Buckingham Palace. Markle curbed her posting the moment news broke that she and the former spare heir were dating in November 2016; one may recall a certain photo from that era of two bananas with faces drawn on them with the caption, “Sleep tight xx,” and lament a time, long gone, where one could read this as a clear message to her beloved across the sea.

Soon after, in April of last year, the soon-to-be-retired actress folded her lifestyle blog, The Tig. After posting the announcement on Instagram, she stopped posting on the platform altogether. (The archives of each of her content receptacles were thoroughly picked over and analyzed, in this publication and somanyothers. After that she announced she would be leaving the acting life behind, and on November 27 came the official engagement announcement.

For all the ways that Meghan and Harry’s relationship has strayed from tradition thus far, the social-media blackout is one thing Markle seems to have no interest in pushing back against. No senior royals have individual social-media accounts; accounts for Kensington Palace, Clarence House, and the royal family, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, take care of them as a group. Those are where sanctioned photos are released, appearances are announced, and coverage of those appearances will be shared. Just this week, the Kensington Palace account released photos from Princess Charlotte’s first day of nursery school.

So take your consolation prize, and faithfully follow her as she accompanies Harry from appointment to public appointment on the sanctioned accounts, and tonight, pour one out for her social-media presence, gone but not forgotten.

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